[forseral]

Hello all,

I'm experiencing some very strange noise with my k2cnc zaxis as of a few days ago. The link below will let you hear it. I've examined all I could. Only strange thing I found is the screw feels a tiny tiny tiny bit strange at the location it makes the noise. (like it's warped or something)

Please let me know if you have any thoughts.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wu0oMt3x2m4]z-axis noise - YouTube[/ame]

[cr2]

What the @$#&! Are you talking about the little bump on the way down, or the screaming all the way up! Are the guide rods greased? I'd send the link to K2 and ask them what needs to be done to fix it. You'll probably need to follow up with a phone call.

[forseral]

hahahha, i know it's bad!

I talked w/ k2 via email. he told me to grease the screw - which I did. I used white lithium grease and it helped by decreasing the occurrences but it still happens.

there's the tiniest bit of play at the bottom of the screw where it mounts to the bearing. I wonder if this normal

[DonFrambach]

Did you get this problem resolved? If so, how? Thanks.

[forseral]

Did you get this problem resolved? If so, how? Thanks.

sorta. i greased it with white lithium grease and added a larger motor as it was losing steps.

it makes the noise but not very often.

[DonFrambach]

K2CNC had no other suggestion besides lubrication?

[cyclestart]

Mine had a high pitched squeal right out of the box and the anti-backlash nut was shredding itself. Tech support was no help and also rude (they did suggest more lube ). I replaced it with a superior product from a competitor (thanks George). Someday when the bitterness subsides I'll disassemble the thing and try to figure out what caused the noise. More lube is a temporary solution at best.

[cyclestart]

Okay, I feel a bit better for that little rant lol. Nobody likes being treated like a chump.

Try isolating the problem. The nut should be attached by 3 cap screws. Remove these and turn the acme nut(s) to the top of the travel. Now check how smoothly the moving portion slides. If it binds it could be dirty bearings or rails out of parallel.

[DonFrambach]

... I replaced it with a superior product from a competitor (thanks George). ...

Can you reveal the superior product from a competitor?

[cyclestart]

Xzeroautomotion.
George (aka Gio) tends to be madly off in all directions making for a confusing customer experience. The quality received turned out to be worth the wait, a lot of bang for the buck.

I'm not sure if he still sells individual assemblies or only entire machines.

[gio666]

Thanks Cyclestart .
On the K2 Z axis first I would check the top plate and bottom plate to make sure they are square to each other, Then check the back side of each rail from front of the backing plate and see if same distance from top and the bottom. The bearing and nut holder on that Z axis is extruded and most likely not bore out the holes for the bearing could be off and binding , I would loosen the bolts on the bearing as much as you can without them starting to move in housing , and see if still out of whack. That noise is a bearing binding sound and I don’t think it is a acme screw problem but it could also be out with the rails.

[vtx1029]

Yea I just bought a K2 Z as well. I hope mine doesn't have the same problems. I wish I would have know about Xzero before my purchase...

[DonFrambach]

Was seriously considering a K2 5" travel Z axis. Not so sure now. Would appreciate other's thoughts and experiences.

[forseral]

Thanks Cyclestart .
On the K2 Z axis first I would check the top plate and bottom plate to make sure they are square to each other, Then check the back side of each rail from front of the backing plate and see if same distance from top and the bottom. The bearing and nut holder on that Z axis is extruded and most likely not bore out the holes for the bearing could be off and binding , I would loosen the bolts on the bearing as much as you can without them starting to move in housing , and see if still out of whack. That noise is a bearing binding sound and I don’t think it is a acme screw problem but it could also be out with the rails.

thanks. ill try parts of this tomorrow. i realize it could be a bearing but the noise did get better when i greased the screw.

[forseral]

Was seriously considering a K2 5" travel Z axis. Not so sure now. Would appreciate other's thoughts and experiences.

other than the obvious crazy vibration, the axis has been ok.

I've not had the best responses from their customer service, however. When i first ordered the part, i asked for a dxf of the back plate and received some random drawing. I replied asking for more detail and received no reply.

:-/

[cyclestart]

Was seriously considering a K2 5" travel Z axis. Not so sure now. Would appreciate other's thoughts and experiences.

It's not all bad.
Reasonably rugged construction, wide variety of mounts available, comes with a home switch.

I mounted a 2HP router and tried to run at the rated 100 ipm rapids. Is 100 ipm a no-load rating ? Squealing on direction changes and black dust from the nut mechanism. Dropped rapids to 80 ipm, oiled the nut and put lithium grease on the screw. Result was much less squeal but the grease was turning black in the nut area, not confidence inspiring. When rapids were set below 70 ipm it seemed to worked well. It never made the bad bearing noises seen/heard in post #1, then again it has less than an hour of use.

I've been saving it for a low speed application but $150 plus shipping takes it away.

[DonFrambach]

message deleted

[forseral]

It's not all bad.
It never made the bad bearing noises seen/heard in post #1, then again it has less than an hour of use. ...

Mine (from post #1) had no production use less than 1 hour of test runs. I wonder if it was handled it too roughly?

[gio666]

thanks. ill try parts of this tomorrow. i realize it could be a bearing but the noise did get better when i greased the screw.

I don't use acme screws so i don't really know the sound they make. I use ballscrews and if ballscrew out it wont go and just tighten up . When bearings are out of alignment ,the wiper on bearing has friction on the rails and makes the same sound after grease is gone of rail.

[Chuck Hammond]

Screech........(chalkboard sound) lol. I'll have to post a pic of what I had a friend do to my Z axis. Got rid of those rods and put some nice linear bearings on it. I never had that awful sound, but it did have some play when drilling holes. It was just not very strong at all.

Hope you did get it taken care of though.